Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Haters gonna hate, but I know I’m not the only person looking forward to the WBC.

The World Baseball Classic is back, now on a four-year cycle, and provisional rosters for each of the participating 16 teams will be released Thursday.

Team USA’s roster is slated for release at 10 a.m. ET with the best of the rest following at 4 p.m. ET. Both announcements are scheduled for MLB Network, with U.S. manager Joe Torre commenting on the American team after the morning announcement.

The Network will broadcast all 39 games in this third running of Major League Baseball’s only international tournament, which will open with Brazil facing two-time defending champion Japan in Fukuoka, Japan, on March 2, and end with the final game in San Francisco on March 19.

Team USA is in the Arizona bracket with Canada, Mexico and Italy and opens against the Mexicans at Chase Field on March 8. The other three first-round brackets are in Japan; Taichung, Taiwan; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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it's still not anything i can bring myself to CARE about
if it was on any channel i got i might could care more

i still don't want any guys on my team playing in it - getting hurt over a meaningless exhibition game is, well, a pain. and i still haven't decided who my team actually IS. i think i'm gonna be a playa this year

I find the WBC a lot of fun. Competitive baseball is good, not having baseball is bad.

I agree with #1 across the board. I think Pool C (Venezuela, PR, DR, Spain) looks like the most interesting group. Spain should get wiped out but I think any combination of the other 3 is possible (though the DR is the clear favorite).

I got into the 2009 one. I thought the first one (2006?) gave it a bad name in America when the US team sort of treated the whole thing as a joke. Every other team (and the 2009 US team) seems to care about it, though.

The WBC is okay, but I always get more enjoyment from the Caribbean Series, which has the advantages of happening sooner and not conflicting with spring training games. Sometimes the Caribbean Series is on the MLB Network; does anyone know if it will be this year?

i still don't want any guys on my team playing in it - getting hurt over a meaningless exhibition game is, well, a pain. and i still haven't decided who my team actually IS. i think i'm gonna be a playa this year

In that case, we look forward to you complaining if any players from any team get injured, or are not injured but have unexpectedly bad 2013 seasons.

Jon Morosi, I think, tweeted out earlier today that actually players who DIDN'T play in the WBC had a higher injury rate than those that did. Admittedly, it's still a small sample size, but...

Also, I agree with JJ1986. The first one was clearly a case of the Team USA players (with a few exceptions like Jeter) just kind of showing up and going half-assed, figuring that they'd win since they were the best team on paper. The 2009 team and this upcoming 2013 team may not be as flashy on paper or as marketable in the advertisements, but I have no doubt that guys like David Wright want to be there.

I really would be hard-pressed to care less about the WBC. The most fun part of it for me is when the non-US rosters are released, and I get to find who is Canadian, who has Dutch heritage, etc. After that, it's exhibition baseball.

I know many of the players and teams take it seriously, but that is the case with many players in spring training baseball, too. I personally think the very human drama of watching an aging veteran trying to earn a roster spot for one more season, or a young pitcher that appears to be finally putting it all together, is superior to the "suspense" of who wins the Canada-Italy round-robin game in Pool B or whatever.

I could see the USA getting knocked out by Mexico and Canada, depending on who ends up on the rosters.

Thing with Canada is the starting pitching will lack MLB starters (unless Dempster changes his mind) and thing with Mexico is that a pissing-match between Team Mexico and the Commissioner of the summer Mexican League might cause them to lack a lot of Mexican leaguers.

That said, any given day, and the round robin format can lead to some REALLY weird things. The nighmare scenario is if USA, Canada and Mexico all go 2-1 and the USA is eliminated through a tie-breaker.

Around the diamond, the U.S. will have a starting eight of Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, Rollins, Wright, Twins catcher Joe Mauer, Braun, Orioles center fielder Adam Jones and Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton....

The bench will include Victorino, plus Ben Zobrist of the Rays and Willie Bloomquist of the D-backs in the infield. The backup catchers are Jonathan Lucroy of the Brewers and J.P. Arencibia of the Blue Jays, who has been working with Dickey in Nashville, Tenn., learning how to catch his knuckleball.

Aside from Dickey, the U.S. has invited Giants right-hander Ryan Vogelsong, Rangers left-hander Derek Holland and Braves right-hander Kris Medlen to be part of the starting rotation. The bullpen includes closers Craig Kimbrel of the Braves and Chris Perez of the Indians. The rest of the bullpen is replete with Perez's Cleveland teammate Vinnie Pestano, Luke Gregerson of the Padres, Heath Bell of the D-backs, Glen Perkins of the Twins, Steve Cishek of the Marlins, Jeremy Affeldt of the Giants, Tim Collins of the Royals and Mitchell Boggs of the Cardinals.

Around the diamond, the U.S. will have a starting eight of Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, Rollins, Wright, Twins catcher Joe Mauer, Braun, Orioles center fielder Adam Jones and Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton....

That's a pretty strong team. I don't think anyone can compete with that outfield. OPS+ of 159, 126, and 158. Not as crazy about the IF. Would have liked to see fielder at 1B. Phillips and Rollins are OK choices, and Wright is just fine. Willie Blomquist? What, was Lenny Harris not available?